Welcome to the Paleofuture blog, where we explore past visions of the future. From flying cars and jetpacks to utopias and dystopias.
All tagged transportation
The August 1965 issue of Science Digest magazine included predictions from the sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov, who by that time had written such classics as the Foundation series in the 1940s and ‘50s and I, Robot (1951), establishing himself as a household name in looking at possible futures. But Asimov’s predictions in this article, like so many of those we explore at Paleofuture, were completely earnest.
Playboy subscribers who just read it for the articles opened up the October 1970 issue to a grand promise. In a piece titled “The Transport Revolution,” readers were told that exciting new modes of transportation were just over the horizon. And that by 1985, all our cars would be driverless, our long distance train travel would see us zipping across the U.S. at 215 miles per hour, and gigantic hoverboats would become the norm just off America’s coasts.
If you follow tech news, the world of air taxis is just around the corner. But this isn’t the first time Americans have heard that promise. In fact, just after World War II, there were a lot of people promising that “commuter helicopters” were on the way.
Most cars of the 21st century have four-wheels, as they have for over 100 years. But some forward-looking car designers of the 20th century were obsessed with making a three-wheeled vehicle for the future, like this Astro III, a concept car made by General Motors in 1969.
In the early 1920s, fans of science and technology were certain that a world of frequent air travel was just over the horizon. People would be zipping from place to place like it was nothing. But there was just one problem for both dense urban areas and isolated mountaintops: How do you give planes enough space to take off and land?
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and second richest person in the world, unveiled his idea for a robot on Thursday that he says might become a prototype by 2022. And while Musk has delivered plenty of hilarious vaporware presentations in the past, from the Loop to the Cybertruck, this one might take the cake.
The city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has accepted a proposal from Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build a transportation tunnel that would bring people from downtown to the beach, according to Mayor Dean J. Trantalis in a tweet late Tuesday. And if Musk’s previous tunnel efforts are any guide, the residents of Fort Lauderdale should prepare to be severely underwhelmed.
Did you see the headlines this week promising that AeroMobil would be making flying cars available for purchase in 2023? That’s just two years from now, if you can believe it. The company’s latest video even ends with the optimistic words, “coming 2023.” But can they pull it off? Let’s just say we’ve been hearing that their flying cars are just “two years away” for a very long time.
Virgin Hyperloop, one of the entities currently developing Elon Musk’s high-speed transportation idea from 2013, has released a new concept video showing off its vision for the future of moving around a city. And it all looks pretty damn cool to us. The only question is whether Virgin can make it a reality anytime soon.
What did kids from the year 1904 think would happen by the year 1919 or even the year 2019? They imagined fancy airships in the sky, “automobiles for everything,” and wondrous house-cleaning robots. They even imagined trips to Mars by the year 1919.
Have you heard the good news? The flying car is almost here! At least that’s what so many news sites have been telling me this month. Take, for instance, this recent article from Auto Week about Terrafugia—a company that’s been promising to deliver a flying car for over a decade now—headlined, “Your Flying Car Is Ready to Order.”
Elon Musk has announced that the test tunnel for his high-speed subway concept will officially open in Los Angeles on December 10. Musk, who made the promise on Twitter last night, said that the public will even get free rides on the roughly 2-mile test route the following day, Tuesday, December 11.
The design of this taxi for the future is patently absurd. It has room enough to seat six passengers comfortably but appears to look like a tank. The taxi driver is perched up top so that they can see over the other cars ahead, not unlike Radebaugh’s vision for cop cars in 1958.
Unlike Musk’s much-hyped plan for a Hyperloop, this new proposal is for a slower system that Musk is simply calling Loop. If it’s actually built, Chicago’s Express Loop (not to be confused with the neighborhood of the same name) will take passengers the roughly 18 miles between downtown Chicago and O’Hare Airport in about 12 minutes.
Uber unveiled a new design for its futuristic “aerial taxi” at the second annual Uber Elevate conference today. And judging by the concept art, Uber is still trying to figure out how to make electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) a practical reality. The company’s latest design looks like the Spruce Goose of flying cars—huge, unwieldy, and something that we’ll probably never see fly.
Facebook user Kevin Karas posted a security cam video of his front yard from July 20, 2017 which appears to show his SUV getting temporarily lifted by a tornado. It’s not exactly the technology out of Blade Runner, but I guess it’s the best we can do for now.
Predictions about driverless cars became incredibly popular in the 1950s and 60s. But the idea is nearly as old as the automobile itself. One example? This short film from 1911, featuring a robot chauffeur.
Back in March of 2015, I wrote a blog post proclaiming that I would “literally eat the sun” if this AeroMobil flying car was released by 2017. Well, today, the company announced a new flying car that will be on display later this month. But I’m not grabbing my knife and fork just yet.
Are flying cars just “one to three years” away? Probably not. But that’s the claim being made today by Uber’s latest hire—a man who promises that flying cars are just around the corner. Just two more years, guys!
Ever since Elon Musk unveiled his idea for a Hyperloop in 2013, we’ve been patiently waiting for it to become a reality. But some people have been waiting even longer. Just take a look at this Sunday comic strip from 1965, which features a train that looks almost identical to many plans for the Hyperloop.
